


Free and Clear! Dryer Sheets

by harryhermionerw



Series: Imagine Tony & Bucky [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Bucky Barnes Feels, Guide Tony, M/M, Sentinel/Guide, Tony Is a Good Bro, imagine prompt fill, marie titles things at three am, sentinel bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 14:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12559532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harryhermionerw/pseuds/harryhermionerw
Summary: All it took was soft sheets, scentless laundry detergent, and a water fountain.Or;Tony takes care of Bucky, and Bucky appreciates it.





	Free and Clear! Dryer Sheets

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Sentinel!Bucky was kept nearly feral by Hydra. After Steve beings him to the tower, Guide!Tony tries to help Bucky's recovery (white noise machine, special laundry detergent, etc).
> 
> Well, you know the drill. Hand-wavy MCU time period, who knows. *shrugs*

He could see nothing beyond the crack in the paint in the wall. His focus has narrowed to that chip, and it took up his whole vision. He couldn't even hear, but he could  _ feel  _ the heartbeats of the other people in the building. At least, the ones in the floors directly above and below him.

He was, in a very far off and distant corner of his mind, grateful that there were several floors between the offices and the Avengers’ floor. 

One of those heartbeats approached him, and he stiffened.

The door opened and it sounded like a gunshot. He whirled, and snarled. This was  _ his. _

A knife appeared in his hand, cold, cold, cold, as he took up a defensive position. 

The heartbeat quickened, and for long moments, that was all he could hear. 

He shook his head when the heartbeat was drowned out by a voice. A  _ loud  _ voice, though the same distant corner said it was normal volume. Wincing, he backed away. 

“-y?”

He dropped the knife with a boom, and clutched his ears.

Too much, too much, too much.

His vision grayed, and the voice sounded urgent and loud but he couldn't listen to it, too focused the sound of his breath whooshing in and out. 

-

Tony ran. Steve had sounded frantic. Bucky was zoning out again, and zoning out  _ hard. _ Since Steve was a Sentinel, he couldn't do anything to help. In fact, Tony was the only Guide on the team. 

Sentinels and Guides were equal, more or less, in society today, but Guides were still... encouraged to look at supportive roles in society.

Tony preferred to buck all societal expectations at all times.

When he got to Bucky’s doorway, he slowed to a walk. “Out,” he snapped, too concerned with the zoned Sentinel in the room to expend much energy for the frantic one at the doorway. To his credit, Steve left, and closed the door almost all the way. It wasn't the first time Tony had pulled Bucky from the zone, but this was  _ bad.  _

Tony approached Bucky slowly, noticing the knife on the floor. Bucky probably had another half dozen weapons on him, and he preferred to make it through this without any extra holes in his body. 

Bucky clearly wasn't in any state to reach for a weapon. Tony reached Bucky, and could feel the energy around him. It was frantic, and it hurt. Gritting his teeth, he carefully embraced the other man, with one hand at the back of Bucky’s neck and the other at the small of his back. Closing his eyes, he began smoothing the energy down. 

Like an angry, wet kitten, it fought back, but Tony was ready for that. He offered strength and warmth, and it calmed, slowly. They stood like that for what felt like hours, until Bucky finally relaxed, and Tony sagged. He might have been a very good Guide, but calming Bucky when he was that zoned was exhausting. 

“Did I zone?” Bucky’s accent was more pronounced, and he almost slurred the words. He too, was exhausted.

“Yeah. Bad.” Tony could only manage those two words.

“Sorry.”

Tony shook his head, hoping Bucky would understand.

Drawing a deep breath, Bucky gathered his strength and supported Tony’s weight as he nudged them both to the couch. “Thanks.”

Tony curled up, leaning against Bucky’s side. After an episode like that, they both needed to relax, and the best way was to stay curled up together. They had learned that the hard way. 

“Go t’sleep,” Bucky added, his voice low. “I’ll talk to Steve.”

Almost immediately, Tony slid into sleep. 

\--

Steve cautiously came back into the room. “You okay?”

Bucky nodded, absentmindedly playing with Tony’s hair.

Sitting on the chair next to the couch, Steve looked at the two of them. “You need help.”

Bucky scowled.

Steve scowled right back. “You nearly knifed me.”

Losing the scowl immediately, Bucky looked contrite. “Sorry.”

“Don't be sorry. Get some help.”

Nodding, Bucky looked down at Tony and his face softened.

\--

The next day, a package was on his bed. He opened it. Two sets of sheets were inside. They were called Cariloha and claimed to be the softest sheets in the world. Curious, he unzipped the blue set. 

Holy  _ shit  _ they were soft. Hurriedly, he stripped his bed and remade it with the new ones. 

“JARVIS?”

“Yes Mr. Barnes?”

“Who ordered these for me?”

JARVIS paused. “Sir did.”

Bucky cocked his head, looking down at the sheets, before shrugging. It was awfully kind of Tony. He wasn't going to give them back, they were too soft. “Tell him thanks?”

“Certainly.”

\--

The next time he did laundry, he noticed a note with his name on it stuck to a white container.

_ Bucky! _

_ Use this instead of the other stuff. _

He knew the handwriting, it was Tony’s. He pulled the white container towards him. It was a container of those laundry pods - the future was fantastic - but the label proclaimed it to be Free and Clear! Scentless. Smiling, he dropped one into the washer on top of his laundry. The other laundry pods gave him headaches and sometimes he zoned a little bit on the scents. Just a little bit! He didn't tell anyone, but he guessed Tony knew.

Next to the container was a new white box, containing Free and Clear! dryer sheets. Grinning, he settled in with a book to wait for his laundry. 

\--

He was zoning, a little bit, he could tell. There was just  _ too much noise  _ in the city. He could just barely hear it, but he was focusing in on it, helplessly. 

The door opened with a bang, and he startled out of the daze. 

“Hey Tasty-Freeze!” Tony winked. “I brought you a present!”

Bucky smiled in returned. “You don't have to keep giving me things,” he said, rubbing his hand over the sheets. “But I do appreciate it.”

Tony waved off both the protest and the gratitude. He bent over, setting up a small... thing in the corner, and nodded. “J?”

Obligingly, JARVIS turned on the thing. Water bubbled through it. It drowned out all the outside noise immediately, and the last bit of tension slid out of him. “Thank you,” he said, earnestly. 

Tony began to wave off the thanks again, but Bucky crossed the room to take his hand. “No, really. You noticed all the little things, and helped fix them.  _ Thank you. _ ”

Tony looked a little uncomfortable, but nodded. “I fix things.”

It was such a Tony thing to say that Bucky laughed. He hadn't laughed in such a long time. “Can I kiss you?” He blurted out.

Tony blinked owlishly. “What?”

Bucky blushed. “You’re just...” he trailed off, trying to pull his hands away. 

Tony tightened his grip automatically. “I’m what?”

Sighing, he continued. “You’re sweet, and generous, and sweetheart, you're damn good-looking.”

Tony continued to look at him with wide eyes. 

Bucky tugged at his hands. “C’mon, you don't have to embarrass me,” he complained, irritated.

Tony shook his head. “Sorry, I was... zoning,” he said, letting go of Bucky’s hands. 

“Guides don't zone.”

“This guide does when his crush asks to kiss him!” Tony’s tone was indigent. 

Bucky’s gaze flew back to Tony’s. Tony was gazing steadily back at him, though his color was high.

“Are you going to kiss me?”

Bucky's mouth curved.

“Sure am.”

And Bucky did, thoroughly.

\--

Bucky kept finding little trinkets and gifts - scent-free soaps, shampoos, and cleaning products, softer blankets and rugs, and softer lighting. And in return, Tony was given many,  _ many  _ kisses. 


End file.
